


Police Work

by silverlysilence



Series: A Hint of Smallville in Gotham [7]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Smallville
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-12
Updated: 2016-05-12
Packaged: 2018-06-07 22:17:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6827290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverlysilence/pseuds/silverlysilence
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clark wanted to know why his emancipation was being reevaluated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Police Work

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place the night after 'Inquires'.

He made his way through the rundown hallway. Those in the vicinity took one look at him, assessing him before the smarter of the bunch dismissed him. There had been a few who chose to follow him, but they were regretting that decision now. After the second scuffle, no one bothered him.

Reaching the correct apartment, the man turned the knob and wasn’t surprised – a little annoyed though – to find the door unlocked. Unlike the renter of the small space, he made sure to lock the door behind him and headed straight for the bedroom. He vaguely noted the living area had been tidied up since the last time he’d come by and if it wasn’t for the furniture – which nothing could be done about – the place might have actually looked livable.

The bedroom door was slightly ajar and with a light touch, it swung the rest of the way open. The twin bed taking up most of the room was occupied by a large body made to look small by curling in on itself. Whimpers of pain came from the child as a white ball of fluff whined and attempted to confront the distressed boy.

As soon as he walked through the door, the pup went from caring and cute to ferocious and deadly. Fur ruffled, standing on end giving the illusion the puppy was twice as big as he really was while pearly fangs flashed in the little light from the living room and blue eyes glowed red. The boy’s eyes sprang opened from their previous position clenched tight, revealing eternal blue orbs underneath.

“Krypto…no…he’s a friend… _bysh_.” The pup’s eyes lost their red tint but the canine kept his eyes on him. “Sorry, J’onn.”

“Kal-El. You have overexerted yourself,” the Martian allowed his human form to melt away, revealing his true skin underneath. Krypto yelped, taking a step back at the sudden change before sniffing the air and cocking his head to the side. The boy chuckled at the puppy’s reaction, but the chuckles soon turned to pained groans as he curled further into himself, closing blazing blue eyes.

J’onn reacted rapidly, grabbing hold of the brunet’s head and positioned both hands on either side of his temples. It took a bit of an effort on his part to make a connection despite the mind under his hands opening up to him, inviting him in. If not, it would have been painful on both their parts. With the connection established, the Martian found the shaky metal walls the boy was failing to strengthen.

With a little assistance, the metal blocks were strengthened and built stronger than before. A chill filled the room as the boy let out a deep breath – showing he hadn’t gotten complete control over his body quiet yet – and blue eyes slowly side open. J’onn watched as those eternal blue eyes flickered and bleed green as the last of his mental shield fell into place.

“Thank you, J’onn.”

“You have not grounded yourself,” J’onn informed the boy, watching as the Kryptonian pushed himself up right, much to the puppy’s delight.

“It isn’t as simple as that,” Clark shook his head and pulled the Kryptonian canine into his lap, letting the excited puppy gnaw on his fingers. “I am not a telepath like you; I cannot use my mind to ground myself, I have to use one of my five senses. Taste and smell are unreliable; I’d have to be constantly chewing on something – which doesn’t appeal to me – or I’d have to wear some kind of cologne, something people would pick up on and give me away.

“Touch,” the boy reached over and grabbed a little trinket made out of metal on the bedside table and easily crushed it between two fingers, “not an option. Sight would be difficult, wouldn’t even begin to imagine how’d I keep something within my vision at all times to ground myself on. Hearing is the easiest; I used to unconsciously focus on ma's heartbeat to keep myself grounded, but ever since- Yeah, let’s just say that’s not an option anymore.

“Sometimes,” Clark let out a sigh, “sometimes I think this is my body’s way of reminding me I’m not human. As if I could ever forget.”

“It is unlikely either of us shall ever forget,” the Martian gave a small nod. “May I inquire what caused this lapse in control?”

“Today’s bombings, I had to stretch my hearing to the max to find all of the explosive devices. I was able to dispose of the bombs without incident but afterwards I couldn’t rein in my hearing. I heard everything and couldn’t block out anything. By the way, how did the Metropolis PD handle the aftermath of the bombings?”

“Once The Blur disposed of the rest of the explosives MPD was able to evacuate the hostages. It helped the terrorists were already bound and gagged before making entrance, not that the Commissioner would admit such to the media,” the Metropolis Detective informed, keeping his eyes on the teenager as he made the puppy in his lap run around in circles, chasing a finger. “The Commissioner also wasn’t very happy I couldn’t be reached. Do not apologize.”

Clark snapped his mouth shut.

“I looked into the matter we discussed earlier,” J’ozz changed the subject to the purpose of his visit. “The reason your emancipation case has been reopened was your legal representative in Smallville, a Mr. Walker, proved to be a meteor-challenged individual and went on a rampage six weeks ago. All of his cases are being reevaluated and assessed to prevent any future legal ramifications.

“I know you were concerned the Luthors had a hand attempting to overturn your emancipation-” the Martian ignored the comment about mind readers “-for their personal gain. To be thorough, I infiltrated a lunch meeting between the father and son by posing as a waiter where I could scan their minds. I was not able to dig too far without them being suspicious.”

“Do I want to know what you found?” the Kryptonian pulled a face as a stray thought of denial assaulted J’onn. _Lex is my friend. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt me. It’s Lionel I have to worry about._

The Martian doubted Clark acknowledged the doubt he heard so clearly coming from the boy’s own thoughts.

“You were right to fear the older Luthor. He has been searching for _The Traveler_ since before your arrival on Earth and suspects a Davis Bloome of being the one he seeks.”

“Should we be worried for this Davis Bloome?” Clark spoke up, green eyes shifting to eternal blue.

“I have looked in on Mr. Bloome, he is but an average premed student at Metropolis University with a well to do family and an older sister attending the same university. It would be difficult for Lionel Luthor to abducted the young man without anyone noticing.”

“That’s a relief,” eyes once more shifting to green and turning their attention on to Krypto who had torn the sleeve of Clark’s shirt in his distracted state. “Anything else?”

J’onn thought of the younger Luthor, of the disturbing, unhealthy obsession he had found rooted deeply in Lex’s mind. An obsession centering on Clark and while he didn’t know of the boy’s otherworldly origins, he knew there was something special about Clark. The young Luthor speculated the Kyrptonian was another meteor-infected individual but with the amount of times the teenager had lost his powers, he was starting to second guess that assumption.

That didn’t dissuaded Lex obsession with the Kryptonian and had a few PIs – and pretty much all of MPD’s force - searching for his _friend_ in Metropolis. The younger Luthor thought he knew Clark well enough to know where he had gone after leaving Smallville. However, Lex didn’t know Clark at all. He didn’t even once consider looking for the teenager in Gotham.

J’onn knew if he told Clark any of this, he would just deny it, focusing on the good he had seen in Lex. The good Lex presented to Clark to hid the darkness which lurked in his mind. The Kryptonian wanted to believe in the best of people, his young mind desperate to find the goodness that his Earth parents had shown him now they were gone.

“No, nothing,” for now, J’onn would keep an eye out on both the Luthors to protect the boy from them. “Are you planning on going on patrol this evening?”

“I was going to stay in with my head still pounding from hearing _everything_ in this hemisphere. Unless you need me?”

“I shall be fine on my own tonight.”

“Okay…I’m gonna work on my English Lit paper then, it’s due in three days. Oh, and there are some Oreos for you on the table. I picked them up for you earlier today.”

“Thank you Kal-El. I shall see you tomorrow and unless there is a major emergency, we shall work on your control. Try to at least meditate some tonight if you’re not going to sleep.”

And if he spent a small chunk of change on materials to create the closest variant of Martian glass he could make with what was available on Earth, that was his business. He did not need to justify to anyone how he placed the glass into thick rectangular frames and left them on Clark’s counter. A note placed underneath the glasses with the word _Sight = Grounded_. It was the least he could do, from one sole survivor of their planet to the next.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the Blur is active in Metropolis but lives in Gotham. I'm using the BvS: DoJ Metropolis and Gotham that are across the bay from each other, which Clark could easily superspeed over to in an emergency.


End file.
